Golden bandicoot

Isoodon auratus

Blamed on foxes

IUCN Status: Vulnerable

EPBC Threat Rating: N/A

IUCN Claim: “The reasons for past declines of the Golden Bandicoot are predation by feral cats and red foxes’”

Studies in support

Bandicoots were last confirmed in the Nullarbor 10 years after foxes arrived (Wallach et al. 202X).

Studies not in support

Foxes were not among predators of reintroduced bandicoots (Christensen & Burrows 1995; Blythman et al. 2020). Bandicoots were last confirmed in NSW 46 years before foxes arrived (Wallach et al. 202X).

Is the threat claim evidence-based?

There are no studies linking foxes to golden bandicoots. In contradiction with the claim, the extirpation records from NSW predates the fox arrival record.

Evidence linking Isoodon auratus to foxes. A. Systematic review of evidence for an association between Isoodon auratus and foxes. Positive studies are in support of the hypothesis that foxes contribute to the decline of Isoodon auratus, negative studies are not in support. Predation studies include studies documenting hunting or scavenging; baiting studies are associations between poison baiting and threatened mammal abundance where information on predator abundance is not provided; population studies are associations between threatened mammal and predator abundance. B. Last records of extirpated populations relative to earliest local records of foxes. Error bars show record uncertainty range. Predator arrival records were digitized from Fairfax 2019.
Evidence linking Isoodon auratus to foxes. A. Systematic review of evidence for an association between Isoodon auratus and foxes. Positive studies are in support of the hypothesis that foxes contribute to the decline of Isoodon auratus, negative studies are not in support. Predation studies include studies documenting hunting or scavenging; baiting studies are associations between poison baiting and threatened mammal abundance where information on predator abundance is not provided; population studies are associations between threatened mammal and predator abundance. B. Last records of extirpated populations relative to earliest local records of foxes. Error bars show record uncertainty range. Predator arrival records were digitized from Fairfax 2019.

References

Blythman, Mark, et al. “Translocation of golden bandicoots, Isoodon auratus barrowensis, from a fenced enclosure to unfenced managed land on Matuwa (formally Lorna Glen) in September 2015.” (2020)

Christensen, P., and N. Burrows. “Project desert dreaming: experimental reintroduction of mammals to the Gibson Desert, Western Australia.” Reintroduction Biology of Australian and New Zealand Fauna’.(Ed. M. Serena.) pp (1995): 199-207.

Fairfax, Dispersal of the introduced red fox (Vulpes vulpes) across Australia. Biol. Invasions 21, 1259-1268 (2019).

Wallach et al. 2023 In Submission